A Modern Nativity Story
by Shadowfang14
Summary: A story I wrote some years ago. Read it, if you want.


I sat down in the old couch, my face in my hands, tears dropping down my fingertips. Not even an hour ago, my husband Joseph and I had gotten into a huge argument. I don't even remember what it was about, except that it had a lot of shouting and we made a whole lot of noise, and then Joseph had stormed out of the house. _Perfect timing, _I thought bitterly. I don't usually think mean things about people, but Joseph had just made me so upset. Plus, it _was _Christmas Eve. My favorite holiday of the whole year was tomorrow, and Joseph had just made me so miserable. Christmas had always been special to me, had always meant something, but now, it felt like nothing.

I pulled my face out of my hands, and, blinking through my tears, looked at the desk next to me. All there was on it was a Bible. I reached for it immediately. Coming from a Catholic family, I had grown up reading the Bible, and I still read it whenever I was feeling upset, like now. Grabbing the book, I flipped through the pages, to my favorite part, the story of the Nativity. It was my favorite Bible story ever, and it had also been my mom's favorite as well. It's even where she got my name-Mary. As I started to read, I felt a kick inside my womb. I smiled, my first real smile that whole day, and placed my hand over my swollen stomach.

Yeah, that's right-I was heavily pregnant. This was actually my ninth month, so I was due any day now. I remembered the day I had found out. Joseph had been so happy when he found out that he was going to be a dad. Thinking of Joseph suddenly made me sad again. Truth be told, this wasn't actually our first fight. After we had gotten married, things just seemed to go downhill. We just fought over the stupidest things. And the last fight was the worst. Joseph had actually threatened to divorce me. Now, being a Catholic, I don't actually believe in divorce, but that sure didn't mean Joseph didn't.

I started to cry again, then got up with some difficulty, and started to go outside. I needed some time to think, and I knew exactly where to do it. After locking the house securely, I went to the garage, unlocked my car, and climbed in. I started the car and drove off, my eyes on the road ahead of me. I think I was about 10 miles away from the house, when my breath caught in my throat. I struggled to breathe, then felt sharp pains in my womb. It was then that I realized what was going on.

_No! _I thought. _Not now! _I let out some painful breaths as some more contractions hit me, even harder and sharper than the first ones. With the combination of the pain and my strong hormonal feelings, I didn't pay attention to where I was going, and, before I knew what had happened, I crashed into the telephone pole on the side of the road.

* * *

I sat on the creaky old bar stool, keeping my eyes on the glass in front of me, but not daring to touch the liquid inside.

Actually, I had never drunk a day in my life. I have hated alcohol all my life, since my father had been a drunk. When I was a child, he had always come home from work and drunk, then proceed to take his anger out on me. I had no intentions of drinking, I just had to come to the bar to blow off some steam. I just had an argument with my wife Mary, and I _had _to get out of the house. Actually, that happens a lot. An image of Mary's face flashed into my mind, and I suddenly felt like the biggest idiot on the planet.

I was always taking my anger out on her, and always yelling. This last time had been the worst. I had actually threatened to divorce her. Of course, I didn't mean it, but I don't think Mary knew that. The look on her face…

I wanted to hit myself, kick myself, do something that would make me feel as bad as Mary probably did. _Why am I always such a moron?!_ I asked myself. _Just because I had to grow up without love, doesn't give me the right to treat the woman I love like garbage! All Mary's done, all she's ever done is love me! And I repay her by yelling and carrying on at her whenever I'm in a bad mood! And right before Christmas too! I'm just as bad as my worthless father! _My thoughts were suddenly interrupted when I heard a voice next to me ask

"Hey, what's that?" I looked outside, and was horrified to see our car crash into the telephone pole, with my wife inside.

"MARY!" I screamed. I probably earned some stares from the people next to me, but I didn't really pay attention. I just jumped right off the barstool and ran out of the bar, and down the street where Mary was. To my relief, I saw that she was alright…or was she? She was moaning in agony and holding her stomach, and it was then that I realized that she was trying to give birth. Looking at me through tearstained eyes, she muttered

* * *

"Joseph…"

I blinked once, then twice, to make sure that I wasn't seeing things. Joseph was standing over me, a worried look on his face. I had never seen him look scared before, this was something entirely new to me. I tried to search for the right words to say, but they wouldn't come out. Finally, I just managed to say

* * *

"Joseph…"

With a superhuman show of force, I unbuckled Mary's seatbelt, then lifted her out of the car. To my surprise and relief, I didn't see any blood, which meant that Mary still had the baby. But I had to act quickly. Holding her in my arms, I looked around, but couldn't find any hospitals. I cursed under my breath. However, I did notice something. There were several hotels on the street. Running to one, I pounded on the door and the manager came out.

"Can I help you?" he asked.

"Yes!" I answered. "My wife's having a baby, we need a room!"

"I'm sorry sir." He answered. "We don't have an available room." So I ran to another hotel, and pounded on the door again.

"Hello?" answered the manager of that one, a woman.

"We need a room!" I said. "My wife's having a baby!"

"Very sorry, all our rooms are full." The woman answered, then closed the door on us. Mary let out a loud cry of pain, and I ignored my sore arm muscles as I ran to the next hotel, and pounded on the door as if I was trying to break it down, and as soon as the manager came to the door, I just shouted

"PLEASE MAN, I'M BEGGING YOU, MY WIFE'S HAVING A BABY, AND WE NEED TO GET A ROOM!" But once again, I was answered with

"I'm sorry, we don't have a room." Disgusted and disappointed, I started to turn to leave, when the man said

"But we do have a nice big lobby." I didn't wait for an invite. I just burst inside, ignoring the stares of all the employees, and placed Mary on the biggest and softest-looking couch I could find.

* * *

If not for all the excruciating pain I was feeling, I would have swore I was dreaming. Joseph was going through all this effort for me. For me. I closed my eyes and gritted my teeth as tears of agony slid down my face. I felt a weird sensation, then realized that Joseph was taking off my pants and panties.

"I'm so, so s-sorry Mary." I heard him sob. "I'm so sorry, I'm such an idiot. Oh Mary, I just love you so much, I'm so sorry." I opened my eyes, and looked straight into Joseph's.

I could see that he was in quite a state. His blond hair was disheveled and windblown, and his blue eyes were red-rimmed and brimming with tears. I could feel my heart grow warm.

_He really does care. _I thought to myself. I was then hit with another sharp pain, and I screamed loud enough to wake up the dead.

"Hold on, Mary!" Joseph yelled. "Now just push, push." I closed my eyes again, and started pushing…and felt the worst pain yet. It took every ounce of strength I had to not rip apart right there. I pushed once-twice.

"Yeah, I can see the baby's head." Joseph said after checking. "Just a little more Mary, one more good one ought to do it." So I let out one more almighty push, screamed, and, just like that, it was done. I could now hear a new screaming in the room, the crying of our baby. I smiled weakly, then looked at Joseph. Some employees came over and wrapped the baby in a blanket. Joseph ran his hand through my dark brown hair, then pressed my hand to his lips, his mustache tickling me.

One of the employees, a doorman, no doubt, checked the baby, and announced

"It's a girl!" He handed the baby over to us, and I took her in my arms. She had a few blonde hairs on her head like Joseph, and big green eyes that were almost identical to mine.

"She's so beautiful." I remarked. I handed her over to Joseph, and he held her tightly, like he didn't ever want to let her go.

"Look." He remarked. "She's got your eyes." The baby then smiled, and started to laugh.

"But she's got your smile." I countered. I looked at the watch on my wrist, and was stunned. Five minutes after twelve. It was Christmas. I then smiled as I realized the irony of it all.

We just had a modern Nativity story! I just knew that this was part of the Lord's plan for me! Everything that had happened, it showed that Joseph really did love me, and that we could live together and start a family. Christmas suddenly meant something to me again.

"What should we name her?" Joseph asked. I had a big smile on my face as I answered.

"Joy."


End file.
